COMPUTER TOO fast? Graphics too high-definition? Too much time on your hands? How about trying what this Polish mechanic has done: balancing drive shafts with a Commodore 64. Same as it has been for the past quarter of a century.

The little home computer that could, and the biggest selling computer of all time, is still sitting in a corner of his garage, covered in grime and goo, and despite having been through a flood and lots of bird turds is still balancing away, reports the official Commodore Facebook page.

The Gdansk mechanic designed the software himself to interface with the various bits of professional measurement equipment, but is confident that it’s accurate. It goes to show that, in this culture of upgrade, you don’t always need the latest kit.

There are no worries about software upgrades, built-in obsolescence, Windows Automatic Upgrades, viruses, pop-ups or other nasties. In fact, the biggest worry is the vertical hold on the ageing CRT green-on-black VDU, and that’s probably too old and too ugly to die anyway.

From what we can see in the picture, there’s a disk drive, but no disk in it, suggesting that whatever has been done to this bad boy has been done at a ROM level. But don’t quote us on that.

Of course, at the INQUIRER we love anything that's been made to run on something it was never supposed to run on (although we’re yet to find a shorter description for it). In the past we’ve featured ATM machines running Doom and Android watches running Windows 95.

But this is a first: an eight-bit computer doing the job of something that is probably being done by at least a 32-bit PC in every other body shop in the country, which makes you wonder whether we overcomplicate things.

We’re not sure whether the CBM64 load balancer would pass British MOT measurement standards, but it goes to show what’s possible. Now where’s our MSX32? We’re going to try to make a debit card reader. µ